A lot of people got excited about Android Auto when it was first announced but then lost interest when they learned that they couldn't install it from the Play Store onto their smartphone.

This is confirmed to be changing in the future. Google says they will let those with compatible devices install the Android Auto app onto their smartphone and use it from there.

Android Auto will also be getting new features like voice activation for Google Now, Waze integration, and the ability to "beam the in-car interface to mobile devices" (assuming your car has WiFi support).